I decided at the last minute to run this race because I had been wanting to run some faster workouts this week and they never happened so just thought I would jump in this race instead. Another reason is the weather looked perfect. It was around 48 at the start. Since it has only been 3 weeks since my marathon my plan for the race was to go out and run the first 6 miles like a tempo run at around 6:50 pace and if I felt good continue to race to the finish. I did a two mile warm up before the race and was feeling good. 1st mile - 7:09 (it was a big race but there were around 6,000 runners so I had to weave through quite a few runners to get clear) 2nd mile - 6:36 (I over reacted a little here due to the slow first mile) 3rd mile - 6:42 (starting to settle into a good pace) 4th mile - 6:48 (this was pretty close to what I wanted to run) 5th mile - 6:46 (still feeling pretty good) 6th mile - 6:48 (this was my check point and I was still feeling good to decided to keep up the pace) 7th mile - 6:50 8th mile - 6:48 (took a gel here and was starting to feel it a little here but got a pick up from the gel) 9th mile - no marker (I felt like I was able to pick up the pace here some after the gel) 10th mile - 12:11 (for two miles so I know this marker had to be off because I felt like I picked it up some but not that much faster.) 11th mile - 7:27 (I know this was off but avg around 6:40 for 3 miles) 12th mile - 6:53 (here my legs really started feeling the effects of having run a marathon a few weeks ago. I felt like I should be able to go faster but couldn't get the legs to turnover any faster) 13th mile - 6:59 (I felt like I was really slowing down but was glad to see I didn't lose too much time) 13.1 - 1:28:38 (It felt really good to look up and see the 1:28 on the clock as I came to the finish) It was really good to get under 1:30 and a boost to my confidence after the poor performance at Chicago. This gives me some motivation going to the Huntsville marathon and now feel that the BQ is within reach. Also, I am looking forward to running a half where I can focus on it and see what I can do. I did a 3 mile warm down after the race. | 